A nostalgic journey to the past to relive the golden days of entertainment!

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

JOAN DAVIS: FUNNY AND TRAGIC

Joan Davis was one of those rubber faced comedians of the 1930s and 1940s, that highlighted any film she was in. Many comedians led tragic lives, but Davis' life was relatively happy. The sad tragedy happened after Joan Davis died at a young age.

Born Madonna Josephine Davis in St. Paul, Minnesota, on June 29, 1907, zany comedienne Joan Davis began her show business career in vaudeville as a child. In the summer of 1931, Davis married vaudeville veteran straight man Si Wills, with whom she had become a comedy act; two years later their daughter Beverly was born. By the mid 1930s, Davis made her way to California in an attempt to break into films. She was almost immediately successful, securing a role in the Mack Sennett short Way Up Thar in 1935. Upon the release of the short in 1935, RKO signed Davis to a contract, but Davis and RKO parted ways soon after. In 1937, 20th Century-Fox put her under contract with much greater success.

As Davis' success grew, her marriage faltered. The couple parted ways in 1947. There were also reports that Davis was having an affair with vaudville comedian and singer Eddie Cantor. Cantor and Davis made two movies together - "Show Business" (1944) and "If You Knew Susie" (1948). Davis continued making movies through 1952, when her final film Harem Girl was released.

Leaving movies for television, Davis started her own production company, which produced Davis's NBC comedy I Married Joan from 1952 through 1955. Somewhat surprising is that she hired ex-husband Si Wills to write for the series. Davis also cast her daughter Beverly Wills in the role of Joan's younger sister. After I Married Joan left the air in 1955, Davis more or less retired.

Unknown to audiences the retirement was brought on by a growing heart problem. On May 22, 1961, Davis suffered a heart attack and died in Palm Springs at the age of 53. Her daughter and ex-husband made headlines after her death, wrangling over the million-dollar estate of Joan Davis, which was eventually settled in favor of her daughter. Tragically, on October 24, 1963, Davis's daughter Beverly Wills fell asleep smoking a cigarette; her Palm Springs home caught fire, killing her, her two sons, and Davis's mother. It was a tragic post script to an entertainer that delighted audiences in nearly every medium of entertainment...

Excellent post, David! You captured Joan Davis well. What a terrible shame about her heart diease, and even worse, her family's needless death -- if these idiots must smoke, can't they make sure they snuff out the cigarettes thoroughly?! Great post, though!

One of my fondest childhood memories is watching reruns of The Joan Davis Show over and over again. I was never an I Love Lucy Fan, but always thought that Joan Davis was a great talent who is still underrated when it comes to TV history. I sometimes think that Joan Cusack, another great talent,is Joan Davis reincarnated. How nice it is to be able to see all those episodes of The Joan Davis Show again and to read about her life through your posting.

Joan Davis is a recent discovery for me. When I saw hold that ghost she instantly captured my admiration and heart. She was brilliant and very attractive as she and abbot n Costello had in tears. May she have the Angels laughing. Thank you for your body of work we can forever enjoy.

I always waited for the "I married Joan " reruns and wandered why they never reopeted as million Lucy and others but they should be. It took me from 50's to 2014 ,now owning a computer to learn why. Tragic it was. Let us bring that oldie back I never heard of her husband.

I discovered Joan in a bit part in a silly movie with an actor that I really like. She really stole the scene. I wanted to know more about her and tonight I saw another movie where she had another, bigger part, My Lucky Star. I went on YouTube to see her TV show and I could not believe how old she looked in the Dinah Shore show. If she died at 47, why does she look like she's 64? Smoking a! Still, really weird unexpected, but anyway I really like her she's really funny. And I do not like Lucille Ball whatsoever, so I hate and don't understand why they are being compared?!

"I Married Joan" was still a network hit on the NBC daytime schedule after it left primetime TV in March, 1955. An endless series of reruns enabled an ailing Joan to garnish royalties while periodically making rare TV appearances and a failed sitcom pilot. However, after Joan' sudden death on May 23, 1961, her estate went into litigation and the show was pulled from syndication. As mentioned in previous entries. her daughter, Beverly, won most of the estate until her death (and remaining family members) in the October 24, 1963 house fire. A subsequent lawsuit was filed by Beverly's second husband (father of her two deceased sons) and the man she was currently married to in 1963. An ongoing court battle was highly publicized in the Los Angeles Times because attorneys argued over the sequence of deaths of Joan's Mother, (Nina Davis) and the two grandchildren (Guy and Larry) by trying to determine the sequence of deaths and who the most likely beneficiary might have been had a family member survived. The judge finally ruled in favor of Beverly's current husband, who was away on a business trip the night Beverly's careless smoking ended the family lineage.